Split Second
by Strictly-untalkative
Summary: He was dying, he knew that, and he was scared. But for one split second, everything was better. ONESHOT. 10xRose. Please R&R!


This was it; he was actually going to die. Stealing that glimpse of Rose had been his last action in this life; he was going to die and that would be the end – not of the Doctor, but of _him_.

'I don't wanna go.' He whimpered quietly, and the enormity of this finally hit him; he didn't want to die – why did he have to die? He looked on in silent horror at his right hand as it started to pulse and glow with regenerative energy. And then it started to take over, running through ever fibre of his being, building up the energy needed to transform it.

But then it stopped.

The Doctor reached up touched his face gingerly, yes, it was still his face.

'What..?' he said faintly, he hadn't stopped regenerating – he could still feel the energy, along with the radiation that was causing it, but the process had just halted, like someone had pressed pause. He looked down at the TARDIS console and reached for the switch that activated the bio-scan, but as he tried to flick it; it just wouldn't budge.

'We're in a half-second time loop. You can't move it.' The Doctor froze at the sound of a quiet voice from behind him, and his hearts twisted in a mix of confusion, panic and longing. He turned around slowly, not quite wanting to confirm what his ears had heard. They were entirely correct.

'Rose…' he choked out, 'Rose, what are you doing here? – you shouldn't be here.' The girl on the other side of the TARDIS cocked her head to one side and frowned.

'I am the Bad Wolf,' she said frankly, in a voice that sounded close and yet far away, 'I can go where I please.' The Doctor just stared at her, she was right – it wasn't Rose, not as he'd last seen her. She was surrounded by the soft, yet powerful glow of the time vortex and her eyes were like stars, stars dripping tears – liquid gold. She _was_ the Bad Wolf, just as she had been when he had died for her, when she destroyed the Dalek fleet and saved the world, all that time ago.

'Why are you here?' he asked, unable to say anything else, to _let_ himself say anything else – she was causing innumerable paradoxes just by standing there. 'You should be back on satellite five, that's where you are meant to be!' the Doctor said desperately, however, she ignored his question.

'You are dying.' She said softly, and the Doctor flinched. 'Did you think I wouldn't notice? I can see everything, everywhere, every _time_ – you know that.' She took a few steps towards him, and in some part of his mind he registered that they weren't steps so much as her dissipating and reforming over and over as she moved closer to him.

'Rose…' He started, but she interrupted.

'I had to see you; I had to tell you something before you went.' She said softly, reaching up to touch the side of his face; he felt the temporal energy in her hand more than the skin itself, and it sparked gently against him. And at that moment, the Doctor wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes and gather her up in his arms, to hold her and never let her go and tell her everything that he never managed to tell her himself, but he couldn't.

'Rose.' He said again, gently pulling her hand away from his face, 'You don't know me yet Rose, where you come from I haven't regenerated yet, you don't…' he stopped, unable to say "love me" out loud.

'So?' she asked, frowning, 'That is in my future, I can see it, and I can see _you_.' She tried to reach for his face again, and he took a step back holding his hands up as though it would keep her away.

'Please,' he said, 'I don't know what you think you're doing, but I can't – you are not my Rose, not yet. You can't just come here like this.' He said desperately, trying to stop himself from breaking down at the mere sight of her.

'You would have me leave you as you were?' she asked, confused, and the Doctor felt a stabbing pain in both his hearts, of course he wanted her here – but it was _wrong_, she could be endangering so many things by being here like this. He put a hand over his face and rubbed at it in frustration; why was this happening? He'd seen her, he'd said goodbye, or as best he could under the circumstances, so why did she come to torment him again? – a Rose who had never seen this body before, who'd never held his hand or laughed at his jokes or picked out ties for him, a Rose who didn't _know_ him. She frowned at him.

'I have seen my future Doctor, trapped on a world that is not quite mine, with a man who is not quite you.' She said flatly, 'Does it really matter if I am not 'your Rose' yet? I am here to tell you that I love you, please let me.' And then the Doctor couldn't take it anymore, and he grabbed her and pulled her into him, his self restraint snapping in the face of a simple truth; it was Rose.

'Rose, Rose, Rose…' he mumbled into her hair, holding on her desperately, and she snaked her insubstantial arms around his waist and held him just as tight.

'Doctor.' She mumbled into his chest, and he felt her smile through the fabric of his jacket. The Doctor would have let this simple gesture last forever – he wanted to – but even with the flurry of emotions flying around in his hearts, his mind still demanded some form of logical answers.

'Rose.' He said again, gently hooking a finger under her chin and lifting her face so he could look at her properly, 'How are you here?'

'I came here first.' She said simply, but knowing that wasn't an answer he would be satisfied with, she continued; 'I looked into the TARDIS and saw all of creation, and how I could shape it, and then I saw you.' She pulled an arm away from the Doctor's waist and left it to rest on his face again. 'And you were so sad, and I wasn't here, and that was wrong. So very wrong.' She finished sadly, and the Doctor felt his hearts break all over again,

'Thank you.' he said softly, and then he kissed her, slowly, and shyly, on the lips. He knew he couldn't kiss her properly, that would come later, later for her anyway, back in her own time. 'You'll have to go soon though,' he said softly, 'to go rescue me.' He smiled at that, and she grinned at him in return.

'Yeah,' she said, 'God knows how you'd manage without me.' The Doctor laughed at that,

'True,' he said happily, and Rose smiled again, the fire in her eyes making it seem all the brighter. But then she looked serious.

'You save me after that.' She said quietly, and the Doctor loosened his hold on her to run a hand over the back of his head.

'Well…' he said sheepishly, 'I suppose I do, yeah.' He walked the few steps to the console sofa and sat down on it heavily, Rose appearing at his side a moment later.

'It makes you change.' She said, and the Doctor glanced at her worried expression.

'Isn't that kind of obvious?' he mumbled, and she gave him a gentle shove.

'That wasn't what I meant.' She said sticking her tongue out, but then her expression turned sombre, 'Does… Does it hurt?' she asked faintly, and the Doctor blinked at her assumption.

'No!' he assured her quickly, 'No, it doesn't hurt. Not at all,' he took her still worried face in his hands, 'Saving you was the right thing to do, in every way. I was glad to change.'

'But not this time?' Rose asked quietly, and the Doctor stopped, letting his hands fall back down again, however Rose quickly gathered them in hers.

'No, not this time.' He agreed, trying not to sound bitter, she squeezed his hands gently, before looking at him seriously; and he saw some sort of movement in the gold in her eyes.

'I could try and stop it.' She said quietly, and he stared at her, shocked. The thought hadn't even occurred to him.

'No.' he said frankly, frowning at her, 'It was meant to happen; I _let_ it happen, to save someone I cared about.' Rose nodded slowly, but he could tell that she didn't really understand, and then the Doctor was quickly reminded exactly how powerful she was like this, how _dangerous_. 'Rose, listen to me. You can't interfere like that, not with people's lives.' Something occurred to him. 'Like with Jack, Rose, you shouldn't…' she held a finger against his lips.

'The fact that you remember that means that I am going to do it,' she said frankly, frowning at him, 'don't concern yourself with my decision – it's already done.' The Doctor nodded wearily – it had been worth a try he supposed. Rose removed her hand and leaned into him, leaving her head in the hollow of his neck.

'If you insist.' He said softly, and she nodded, the trails of energy she was emitting making the hairs on the Doctor's neck stand up.

'I love you.' She said quietly, and the Doctor closed his eyes, relaxing into the sofa – that was all he had wanted to hear, for such a long time now.

'I love you too, Rose Tyler.' He whispered, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her in closer, and within seconds, the two of them had fallen asleep, wrapped in the halo of the Wolf's gold energy.

---

'Doctor.' An unearthly voice broke through into the Doctor's sleep addled mind. 'Doctor, wake up.' The voice came again. The Doctor gave a faint groan and opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden harsh gold light that filled them.

'Rose?' he asked tiredly, shifting himself up slowly, trying to focus on her face.

'My head hurts.' She whispered, and, hearing this, he was on his feet immediately. She was shaking slightly, the few tears that her glowing eyes had been trailing earlier had turned into a steady stream, and the golden aura around her was almost painful to look at. He took hold of her face, and looked into her eyes intently – she was starting to burn up. Their time was over.

'Rose.' He said quickly, 'You have to go now, go back to your own timeframe so I can save you, you can't stay here any longer – it'll kill you.' He said it all quickly, forcing himself to let her go.

'I don't wanna go.' She said, shaking her head desperately, and the Doctor blinked as he heard her repeat what he himself had said earlier. 'I don't want to leave you.' She stammered her voice breaking. The Doctor forced himself to smile at her, putting his hands on her shoulders gently and looking into her eyes as calmly as he could manage, forcing himself to smile

'You have to leave me so you can go meet me silly.' He said simply, hoping that the simple logic of this would make the Wolf realise it had to move. Rose looked at him again, calmly now.

'If you insist.' She said softly, and the Doctor nodded.

'I do.' He said seriously.

'When I go, the time-lock will fall.' She said sadly, and the Doctor couldn't help but grimace.

'I know.' He said, 'But I'm glad you came.' Rose nodded.

'So am I.' she said, 'Though I will have to make sure I forget it,' she added, 'So I can meet you properly.' The Doctor smiled then.

'Good.' He said, leaning in to take hold of her again. 'That's good.'

'And won't make the universe collapse.' Rose added, and the Doctor laughed,

'That too.' He admitted, and he reached down to kiss her on the forehead, but she flinched out of the way; he looked at her, confused.

'Ouch…' she muttered rubbing her temples, before looking back up at him, 'I have to go.' She said quietly, and he nodded.

'I know.' He said solemnly, and then took a deep breath, 'Goodbye Rose Tyler, you are the most important thing in all of my existence. And although I may not tomorrow, right now, I love with both my hearts and everything I am.' She nodded, smiling, the golden tracks of her tears glowing brighter for a second.

'I love you too, Doctor.' She said softly, and then she was gone. Back to where she should have been, leaving nothing but a wisp of golden nothingness. And then the Doctor was gone too, in a golden explosion of his own.

---

But on satellite five, the Bad Wolf appeared to another man, another Doctor. She saved him, and then he saved her.

He took her home, and through some very odd occurrences, she met a new man, a new Doctor, and she fell in love all over again.

And they travelled, and they held hands, and she laughed at his jokes and picked out ties for him.

And then they were apart, and she broke the universe to get back to him.

And he gave her a life, with a man who wasn't quite him. And he denied himself the only thing he really wanted, because she would be happier like that.

And then, some time later, he died.

But a girl who hadn't even met him yet came and held his hand and told him that she loved him. And that made it better.

And then she went to meet him, all over again.

* * *

**So, another oneshot then. I figure i'm gonna keep writing them untill I stop being so miserable about the regeneration XP**

**This stems from the fact that i've always been interested in the Bad Wolf and exactly what she was capable of. Particuarly at the end of series two, I often found myself going; 'If Rose could see all of time and space and had mega-God-powers, why didn't she just stop that from happening in her future?' However, after series four I was just like, 'Oh thats alright as it's ok in the bigger picture.' **

**Anyway, i'm a massive fan of 10xRose, and after this occured to me I just had to write it; as, to me, it seemed just right.**

**However, i'm aware you may beg to differ.**

**Hope someone likes!  
**


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